Murphy edges past spirited Yan
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 18, 2017
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China's Yan Bingtao in the game. |
Shaun Murphy managed to fight off China's Yan Bingtao 10-8 in the match of this year's Betfred World Championship so far.
Even in defeat, Yan's performance will garner a huge amount of respect on his Crucible debut. The scoreline of 10-8 equals the best ever performance for a 17-year-old at the World Championship, drawing him level with Stephen Hendry who lost by the same margin to Willie Thorne in 1986.
The win for Murphy sets up a mouth-watering second round encounter with Ronnie O'Sullivan. The Magician will be desperate to improve his Crucible record against the Rocket, having lost their only two meetings so far at snooker's Theatre of Dreams.
The 2005 World Champion had led 6-3 after the first session and he enhanced his lead this afternoon, before an admirable fightback from the Chinese teenager.
The pair shared the opening two frames, before Yan clinched the 12th on the black and moved within two at 7-5. From that moment, the level of scoring went to another level. Murphy made a contribution of 109 to re-establish his three frame cushion. He then moved to a seemingly unassailable lead at 9-5. However, Yan maintained his cool and embarked upon chipping away at Murphy's advantage.
Runs of 94, 70 and 47 saw him catapult back into the match at 9-8. It seemed as if Murphy was beginning to feel the pressure, as Yan looked to force the issue and take the game to a decider. Yan established a lead of 65-23 when Murphy took on an ambitious long red to the top left corner, it rattled the jaws but found it's way into the top right pocket. A huge piece of fortune, but the 34-year-old took full advantage. He kept his cool and taking out the clearance of 44 to seal the tie.
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